Do you think this is fixable?

[BoarderDave]

Hello. So, I've never done any board repair.. but a buddy of mine had this laying around, didn't want to try and fix it himself, so I took it upon myself to see if I can do it. If not, oh well, at least I tried. If so.. sweet, new board to play around on. Figured I'd post up some pics and see what you all think, maybe you can give me some tips on how to go about doing it. If anything, it's an experiment to learn board repair for my future problems on my normal board.

[billie_morini]

Yes. It can be fixed. The cost to have a shop do it is far more than the value of the board. But, it is an excellant do it yourself (DIY) learn something project. It'd be ideal if you had supply leftovers. If you're not careful, you could spend quite a lot for supplies. Check with your buddies for leftovers or buy from low-cost internet-based fiberglass sales businesses (tell me if you need some links). If you have never mixed resin and laid glass, this is an excellant opportunity! Be sure to read a couple of books or internet information before starting. It doesn't matter if you read about making canoes, sail boats, surf boards, or motorcycle parts. It'll be fun. Fiberglass is easy to work with. Be sure to watch the section of the movie, "The Endless Summer," that shows a guy glassing a board. That'll help a lot, too. You may not get a great result, but this is an opportuntiy where "good enough" is OK.

Cut off all the really bad parts. Rough sand the fiberglass that you retain. Make sure the foam is dry. If damp, set board out in sun on saw horses for a couple of days. Whether your work area is on grass or hard surface, hose the area down with water to reduce the amount of dust that might be kicked up when applying the resin to the glass and allowing it to cure. Mix the resin according to instructions and apply while wearing rubber kitchen gloves or surgical gloves. Make sure you have plenty of ventilation. You'll apply glass on one side, let it cure, and then flip the board over to apply glass to the other side. Be sure to smooth out any bubbles. IMPORTANT: make sure the glass is wetted thoroughly. You can't have any dry spots. You'll probably apply a minimum of two layers of glass and a maximum of three. I'd probably use a coarse weave (heavy glass cloth) on the first layer and a fine weave on the second. That will probably be enough. If you want to make things absolutely bullet-proof, then apply a third fine weave layer. But, this will increase the cost and weight. It may not be worth the money.

Anyway, you can have some fun with this.

[pkbum]

wow. that looks like a really old board.

[BoarderDave]

Wow.. thanks for the info Billie.. if you want to post some links, any additional help is appreciated. Since I have yet to do any of this stuff before, I dont know where to get the supplies anyways. So feel free to post it if you want to.. or PM them to me. Thanks.

pkbum; yeah, Im sure it probably is quite the old board.. I got it from him about a year ago, and he had it sitting in this condition in his closet for a couple years.. and surfed it for a while prior to that. hah. So yeah, it's been around a while.

[kitesurfer]

Allways good to practise board fixing but i would advise this before you start on that board. It looks very old and also potentially the fibre glass could be de laminating in other areas of the board other than the damaged area shwon in the photos.
So before getting the supplies in you will need to fix it i would strongly recomend that you inspect the whole board throughly for de lamination. Squeeze the board gently between your fingers, it should be hard and NOT easy to dent. If it is soft then i would seriously re consider your options as it may well be more trouble than its worth. Also in the damaged area check to see how easy it is to pull the fibre glass off the foam, again if it strips off easily this is not a good sign.

Good luck and fingers crossed it'll be ok.

KS

[spark6]

Good point KS... speaking of de-lam, do i see an area of it sorta in the center of the bottom of the board? looks like from your first pic, you might have a little bit going to the right of the stinger... but that could just be the photo, or, worse still, it could just be me!

Best of luck to you, sounds/looks like a fun project!

[CHarvey]

http://www.shapers.com.au/category1_1.htm
http://www.surfersteve.com/shaping.htm
http://content.surfline.com/mag/feature ... index.html
http://www.foamez.com/index.php
http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/

Hope these help.

[BoarderDave]

Sweet. Thank you all for the tips. This board is currently in my parents shed, so when Im up at their place in a couple weeks, I'll go over it thoroughly and check out what Im truly up against.

Thanks again, I'll also see if I can snap some more pictures if I have some other questionable areas on it after looking closer.

There also a couple little dings and dents here and there (see the black taped spots in the first picture ) so those will also need to be fixed.

[CHarvey]

I want to say just cut all of the old glass job off and put a new one on.

[BoarderDave]

Really? Wouldn't that be a LOT more work with it? Seems like that would be pushing into that range of "more trouble than it's worth."

[kitesurfer]

Really? Wouldn't that be a LOT more work with it? Seems like that would be pushing into that range of "more trouble than it's worth."

That is kind of the point. If the board is delaminating (and that is an if) then it may well be more trouble than its worth unless of course its a board you really want to save, in which case the answer is to cut all the old glass off and re-glass, but that is alot of effort.

Let us know what you find.

KS

[BoarderDave]

I see. Alright, yeah I'll look into it. If it comes to it that the only decent fix for it is to re-glass the whole thing, I'll probably end up tossing it out.

It's not really something that I really WANT. It's a little too short of a board for me anyhow, I mainly picked it up because I've never done board repair and wanted to experiment on a board that isn't my usual. If anything, I'll just practice on the little dings on it.

I'll let you guys know what I find when I get it all stripped down, cleaned up, and I can look closer into it.

Thanks again for the tips and help.

[tomcat360]

Looks like the board was originally foam white? If so that's all water damage in the foam (unless its yellowing by the sun, but you can usually tell).

So the foam, even if you completely reglass, might not be really that substantial.

[BoarderDave]

I dont know if it was originally the nice white that boards are usually. I think it might have been a bit yellowish to begin with.

..not positive though.

[isaluteyou]

Really? Wouldn't that be a LOT more work with it? Seems like that would be pushing into that range of "more trouble than it's worth."

That is kind of the point. If the board is delaminating (and that is an if) then it may well be more trouble than its worth unless of course its a board you really want to save, in which case the answer is to cut all the old glass off and re-glass, but that is alot of effort.

Let us know what you find.

KS

Having personally delamned a board to reconstruct i can tell you its just not worth the effort for a start its touch and go whether you can remove the glass without taking huge chunks out of the foam. Secondly if the foam is in sad shape well why flog a dead horse. However if you have some time and want a little project it can be very rewarding to bring an old board back from the dead But if you are gonna get into delaminating a board you might just want to shape one from scracth

Just my 2c

[BoarderDave]

Hah, yeah man. I agree with you. If it was a classic board that was passed down generations in my family.. I might think about it. However, it's nothing special to me. If it comes to that, I plan on fixing some dings for practice and tossing it.

Thanks for the input though.

[billie_morini]

Of course, most of the original fiberglass is going to be cut off. It does not look like it will be difficult because of its condition. I'd start with a utility knife.

A project like this is not as much about the monetary value; rather it is about the learning experience. Is it worth in terms of dollars? Probably not. Is it worth learning how to use fiberglass? Probably so!

[isaluteyou]

Of course, most of the original fiberglass is going to be cut off. It does not look like it will be difficult because of its condition. I'd start with a utility knife.

A project like this is not as much about the monetary value; rather it is about the learning experience. Is it worth in terms of dollars? Probably not. Is it worth learning how to use fiberglass? Probably so!

ya you are right there its always handy knowing how to fix boards as why shed out cash to get some one to do it when you can DIY.

However when using the knife be real carefull you dont cut right into the foam. I actually found a chisel can be pretty handy as long as use caution

[tomcat360]

Ooo a chisel.....I haven't thought of that....

But yes! Knowing fiberglass well will give you many more options.

[CHarvey]

If you have a air compressor and a hend held cutting wheel I would use that. More control and power.......power